Big Spring VA honors WASP

Published 7:00 pm, Sunday, March 28, 2010

BIG SPRING — Mary Vanderventen grew up during the time when Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic. He came through Abilene, near her hometown of Lueders.

Her family had an old Victrola record player on which she listened to the fabled pilot's story. The disc also contained a beautiful song, which she didn't know was the French national anthem until she was older.

The 87-year-old remembers she wanted to fly from the time she was 7, but the only aircraft she had was a hammock. Vanderventen said she was between 8 and 10 years old when her father got her a plane ride.

"I thought how neat and clean everything looked," she said.

Her desire to fly turned into serving her country as a member of the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPS). More than 30,000 applied to be WASPS, but only 1,206 were selected. A little more than 250 are alive today and each was honored in Washington on March 11 with a Congressional Medal of Honor.

West Texas VA Medical Center in Big Spring on Monday honored Vanderventen as part of Women's History Month. Vanderventen's daughter, Teresa Dominy of Abilene, went to Monday's event and told those listening that surviving WASPS attended the Medal of Honor ceremony in their wheelchairs and with their oxygen.

"Mother was one of the spring chickens at 87," Dominy joked.

Her medal and a special set of wings were displayed at the back of the room where the event was held, along with information about Vanderventen's service and those of her fellow pilots.

West Texas VA Federal Women's Program Manager Sharon Settles found Vanderventen when the hospital conducted a town hall meeting in Stamford. Settles said it was only because of World War II and the scarcity of pilots that women were allowed to fill in.

"They were pioneers, and as a result, often faced disdain from male pilots," Settles said, yet WASPS prided themselves on having better flying records than their male counterparts.

General of the Air Force Henry H. "Hap" Arnold disbanded the WASPS by letter. Because they were not militarized by Congress, Vanderventen said they had to find their own way home and even arrange passage for their slain comrades.

Vanderventen served in the WASPS from 1942-44. She started off training in Houston and then at Avenger Field in Sweetwater. Women pilots were issued leather jackets, a leather helmet with goggles and what they called zoot suits — size 40 coveralls worn over whatever else they were wearing.

"We wanted so much to succeed. If you had three bad rides, you got a check ride," Vanderventen said.

Some of her colleagues flew planes across the country, but she mainly towed artillery targets for bomber pilots. "I do not feel that I have done as much as others, especially the fellows in World War II and the other girls," she said.

Vanderventen has two daughters — Dominy and Sheri Vanderventer — two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Dominy said her mother started college at Southern Methodist University then graduated from Texas State College for Women — what became Texas Woman's University — as a theater and drama major.

She taught school in Lueders for six months and then was invited to join the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. She went to work as a reservationist for American Airlines in 1948 in Dallas. Her husband, Robert W. Vanderventen, was news director at WFAA in Dallas in the early 1950s.

Vanderventen returned to Lueders in 1965 and taught fourth grade through high school courses that varied from English to history, basketball and pep squad. Her favorite was University Interscholastic League one-act plays.

Mary Vanderventen said she never thought about getting the Medal of Honor.

"After all, it's been a little while. We're thankful to the people, including Sen. (Kay Bailey) Hutchison and a lot of some of the other congressmen," for the medals, she said.

During the event, West Texas VA official Dianne Dickerson was honored as Woman of the Year. Veterans and VA staffers Yvette Villareal and Sandy Schifflett also spoke.